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Filling the gap: Noteworthy herpetological discoveries in North West Province, South Africa

by: Tolley, Krystal; Telford, Nicolas; Makhubo, Buyisile; Power, Richard; Alexander, Graham

Publication date: 2023-01-26
Usage: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Topics: Africa, amphibians, barcoding, biogeography, conservation, reptiles, spatial planning, species richness, surveys
Publisher: Pensoft Publishers
Collection: biodiversity
Contributor: Pensoft Publishers
Language: English
Rights: http://biodiversitylibrary.org/permissions
Rights-holder: Copyright held by individual article author(s).
Volume: 99
Item Size: 28.6M

Abstract: The North West Province, South Africa, is centrally situated in southern Africa and is characterised by savannah with a mesic, temperate climate in the east and a hot, arid climate in the west. While the eastern region is fairly well-documented for herpetofauna, the arid central and western regions are poorly surveyed. Given that the Province has been targeted by the national government for development of infrastructure, the overall deficiency of biodiversity data could result in impact assessments that are not well-informed. We, therefore, carried out herpetofaunal surveys over two years (2019–2020) in the North West Province to improve knowledge on the distributions of reptiles and amphibians. Our surveys added a total of 578 new records to an earlier baseline of 1340 records. In addition, over 300 records were added to a citizen-science platform in connection with our surveys. As compared to the previous 100 years, our surveys increased the herpetofaunal dataset by 68% in just two years, increased geographic coverage by 20% and brought the total number of species with accurate records for the Province to 102 reptiles and 23 amphibians. We also recorded range extensions for five reptile species and confirmed the presence of Dendroaspis polylepis (Black Mamba) in the west where it had been last recorded in 1996. Our surveys resulted in a significant increase in biodiversity data for the Province and provided a better foundation for spatial planning that accounts for biodiversity and the maintenance of ecological function.
Addeddate: 2024-05-07 21:33:49
Bhl_virtual_titleid: 165999
Bhl_virtual_volume: v.99(1)(2023)
Call number: 10_3897_zse_99_90181
Call-number: 10_3897_zse_99_90181
Foldoutcount: 0
Genre: article
Identifier: fillinggapnotew99toll
Identifier-ark: ark:/13960/s2x365cg1p3
Identifier-bib: 10_3897_zse_99_90181
Identifier-doi: 10.3897/zse.99.90181
Issue: 1
Ocr: tesseract 5.3.0-6-g76ae
Ocr_detected_lang: en
Ocr_detected_lang_conf: 1.0000
Ocr_detected_script: Latin
Ocr_detected_script_conf: 1.0000
Ocr_module_version: 0.0.21
Ocr_parameters: -l eng
Page_number_confidence: 77
Page_number_module_version: 1.0.5
Page_range: 101-116
Pages: 16
Pdf_module_version: 0.0.23
Possible copyright status: In copyright. Digitized with the permission of the rights holder.
Ppi: 300
Source: Zoosystematics and Evolution 99(1)
Year: 2023